Wilmington, NC News

Archive for April, 2010

His name appears on the Burney Center at the University of North Carolina Wilmington and on signs for the John J. Burney Freeway, part of Interstate 140. Yet friends and fellow lawyers say that John Jay Burney Jr. left an even bigger mark on Southeastern North Carolina.

Officially, Clay Cole resides in Oak Island, but these days, it’s hard to find him there.On Thursday, Friday and Saturday, he was touring Florida, appearing in Naples, St. Petersburg and Fort Lauderdale in concerts with Jay and the Americans, Little Anthony and the Imperials, the Crystals and the Coasters.

In the mid-1960s firefighters rushed down the street in open-cab trucks. But over the years, equipment has gotten bigger, so much so that officials say the Wilmington Fire Department’s 45-year-old station at Empie Park barely has enough clearance for the modern vehicles that rush in and out.

Sooner or later, every North Carolina schoolchild hears the story of the “Lost Colony,” the 115 or so English settlers who vanished from Roanoke Island and vanished from history sometime in 1587 after their governor, John White, sailed for home to obtain supplies.

Margaret Rogers drove to Fayetteville attempting to add 500 miles to her new 1973 Monte Carlo Super Sport, never knowing she would meet her future husband, Nelson Robinson.“He came to visit my friend, opened the door, saw me and froze,” said Rogers. “Ours was a love-at-first-sight event.”